It is member-states that asked for flexibility in vaccine allocation and decided to depart from the Commission's proposal for distributing doses of vaccines on the basis of a pro rata of the population of each Member State, the European Commission said on Saturday.

The EC is thus shifting the responsibility onto others for the unfair distribution of COVID vaccines after some of the EU members raised concerns about this issue.

“The Commission agrees with recent statements by the several Member States that the most equitable solution for the allocation of doses of vaccines is on the basis of a pro rata of the population of each Member State. This is the solution that the Commission proposed for all Advance Purchase Agreements. It is a fair solution as the virus strikes equally everywhere, in all parts of the EU,” the Commission stated today.

The allocation of doses of vaccines under the Advance Purchase Agreements has followed a transparent process, the EC insists.

“Member States decided to depart from the Commission's proposal by adding flexibility which allows agreeing on a different distribution of doses, taking into account the epidemiological situation and the vaccination needs of each country. Under this system, if a Member State decides not to take up its pro rata allocation, the doses are redistributed among the other interested Member States,” the Commission says.

Earlier on Saturday, the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Slovenia called on the leaders of EU institutions to hold talks on the simultaneous distribution of COVID vaccines on a pro rata/population basis.

Those six member-states are afraid that If the current system of deliveries were to carry on, “it would continue creating and exacerbating huge disparities among the Member States by this summer.”

The Commission responds that “it would be up to the Member States to find an agreement if they wished to return to the pro rata basis.”